Simi Approves Ice Rink Complex to Help Youths and Economy : Recreation: Project will include restaurants, shops and gym. Council is warned of noise and congestion.

A proposed Simi Valley ice rink and shopping center have won approval after the City Council decided that the economic boost and teen appeal of the project are worth the potential increase in noise and traffic congestion.

Despite long and loud protests from neighbors of the $20-million Iceoplex and grocery store complex, the council merely tinkered with the project’s design before approving it unanimously late Monday.

The project calls for an array of services and activities for children and adults, including restaurants, shops, medical offices, a gym, pool hall and video arcade.

At the corner of Madera Road and Royal Avenue, the complex could ultimately grow to nearly 300,000 square feet built on 29 acres. The skating rink would open in 1996.

“I feel pretty comfortable that they can solve many of the noise and traffic problems in the way they design the project,” Councilwoman Sandi Webb said. “If these concerns are not met later on in the design process, we’ll deal with it then.”

More than 150 residents showed up at the council meeting to root for their side through a four-hour hearing. The council heard from 32 speakers--18 in favor, 14 opposed.

Supporters, pleading for more activities for the city’s youths, showed a videotape of happy skaters at an Iceoplex in North Hills.

The skating complex will host skating workshops and fund-raisers for the community, said Brad Berman, a partner for Iceoplex, which also operates centers in Fremont and Pittsburgh, Pa.

“We do proactive events to raise funds for really good causes,” Berman said. “And we give a lot of young people something to do.”

Resident Candy Bosson said the complex would be a welcome convenience.

“As a single parent, I can’t think of anything better,” Bosson said. “I can do a little grocery shopping, work out, and spend some family time with my daughter.”

Many opponents said they favored the ice rink, but not the traffic-heavy Albertson’s grocery store.

But the developers said they could not afford the rink without the adjoining stores.

Resident Ken Constable presented a petition signed by 500 residents opposed to the project. The petition outlined several areas of concern, including traffic and safety, noise and pollution and compatibility with the neighborhood.

One opponent, who said his house is a mere 210 feet from the planned grocery store loading dock, used elaborate diagrams to illustrate the disruptive effect of delivery trucks rumbling in at all hours.

Others, sporting stickers with “Save Our Simi” in large red letters, praised the proposed ice rink, but decried the construction of a grocery store in an already congested neighborhood.

Even Wood Ranch project manager Craig Messi argued that another grocery store in the neighborhood would ruin business for the Ralph’s at the Wood Ranch shopping center.

To place another market within a mile of the Ralphs “would be very detrimental,” Messi said.

“A new market would cause us to struggle to stay alive as a viable center,” he said.

But Councilwoman Judy Mikels scolded Messi, saying he was asking the council to overregulate development.

“Once we zone an area to allow commercial development, it is not our job to say what can or can’t go in there,” Mikels said. “We set the guidelines and send them off to make it work.”

Councilman Bill Davis, who objected to the boxy strip mall design of the project, led the council in directing the developer to make the project more aesthetically pleasing.

“The way it is laid out now is just like a strip mall,” Davis said. “Square building, square building, square building.”

Instead, the council asked for “a pedestrian-oriented, village atmosphere.”

The council also chose a “Monterey Cannery” design, which includes corrugated metal roofing.